The Northern Sinfonia's progress through Beethoven's symphonies more closely resembles a slalom than a cycle, with the works presented in no particular order, under a variety of conductors. Thus far there's been a slightly underpowered Seventh under Ilan Volkov and a serene Sixth from Thomas Zehetmair, while the forthcoming Third with Brett Dean is an enticing prospect. This time it was Thierry Fischer's turn to deliver a brisk interpretation of the inscrutable Eighth. The work often seems something of a minnow compared the magisterial compositions that preceded and followed it, while the metronomic tick-tocking of the woodwinds in the second movement can sound a little banal. Yet Fischer maintained a hypnotic, driving pulse that suggested that Beethoven's revolutionary achievements encompassed the invention of minimalism.

There were further intimations of Reich, Glass and company in a transcendental account of Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. Fischer imbued the hazy textures with the quality of rising mist, while the arresting passages for woodblock and detuned timpani stood out like a demonstration of a pea bouncing on a drum.

The exciting young Latvian violinist Baiba Skride made a compelling case for Frank Martin's overlooked violin concerto, a work which she and Fischer have recently recorded. It is a fascinatingly contradictory work, not unlike Korngold's near-contemporary concerto – classical in form, yet poised in the middle of the 20th century as if uncertain whether to renounce its Romantic instincts in favour of modernism. Yet such distinctions soon became irrelevant as Skride displayed a technical ability and tonal finesse that made time stand still.

Those members of the audience who stayed on for extra time were rewarded with a rare opportunity to hear Menotti's Suite for Two Cellos and Piano. Accompanied by John Reid, Gabriel Waite and Louisa Tuck deftly interwove Menotti's unusual pairing of sonorities into a dark-hued dialogue that ranged from maudlin to melancholic and back again.

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